


there are many ways to fall in love (and to say i love you)

by thispapermoon



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Jealousy, Paris - Freeform, Routine, Smutt, Tumblr Prompts, Two witches in love, witch seeking witch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-11-18 05:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18113915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thispapermoon/pseuds/thispapermoon
Summary: collection of tumblr prompts :)





	1. Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

> @Concreteangel1221 asked for:
> 
> Hecate and Pippa are at an education conference (confinement be damned) and Hecate gets propositioned by some hotshot potion’s master/mistress. Pippa is #jealous and not very good at hiding it.

Pippa’s heels tap sharply against tile of the hotel flooring as she stomps down the hall, Hecate trailing behind her.

“I really don’t know what’s put you in a mood,” Hecate mutters, and Pippa can feel her eyes on the back on her neck. “It was a very informative evening. You love these conferences usually.” Hecate’s heel click along, even louder than Pippa’s and Pippa huffs in irritation. “Oh, did I tell you that Marian’s recently developed a remedy for Turtle Fever using thistle hulls -“

“I bet she has.”

Behind her, Hecate slows. “That doesn’t make you less in a mood? I know you’re interested in that arena.”

“Not anymore.”

“Not any - ?”

Pippa grits her teeth and increases her pace, giving no choice but for Hecate to try catch up. But there’s a shimmer in the hall before her and suddenly Hecate’s blocking her, arms folding across her front. Her appearance forces Pippa to slide to a halt, jaw cramping as she looks down at the floor instead of at Hecate.

“You’re upset.”

It’s not a question and Pippa stares harder at the intricate patterns in the tile, praying she won’t be forced to wipe at the tears of hurt and frustration that prick at her eyes.

“No.”

“Yes.”

There’s a beat between them and Hecate sighs.

“You’re angry.”

Again it’s not a question, but Pippa can only shake her head.

“Perhaps it’s my company.” Hecate sounds hurt and Pippa looks up swiftly. “Perhaps I ought to take my leave.”

Horror leaps in Pippa’s chest, as does bitter resentment. “To go spend time with Marion?”

She spits the name out and Hecate looks surprised.

“She did say she was staying in the hotel as well. So perhaps.”

“Fine,” Pippa crosses her own arms. “Go, I’m sure she’s better company. She’ll be delighted.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She was propositioning you,” Pippa hisses, arms dropping to curl into fists at her side as she turns away from Hecate, unable to hide her tears.

Hecate makes sound like a laugh but it sounds rather choked. “Was she?”

“All night,” Pippa mutters, trying not to grind her teeth. Her throat is so tight she can hardly get the words out. “Touching your arm, laughing at your jokes, refilling your drink.” She rounds on Hecate. “She was standing so close to you that you couldn’t have slide a piece of parchment between you - “

Hecate stares at her. “Pippa. What on earth. Marion Mayweather? Why on earth would she proposition me? She’s the singularly best potions mistress of our age, and I’m - I’m hardly -“

“Because you’re brilliant,” Pippa blurts, emotion making her voice overly loud and harsh. “You’re beautiful, you’re _mysterious_ . Any witch in that room tonight would have gladly taken you home but she was the only one who _dared_ \- “

The expression on Hecate’s face would be comical if Pippa we’re so angry.

“Pippa - “

“You just stood there and she - she _melted_ all over you. She fed you her cocktail cherry. And you _let her_.”

Hecate blushes. “You’re jealous.”

“I am not.”

There’s something glittering in Hecate’s eyes and Pippa isn’t prepared when she takes a step forward forcing Pippa to take a step back.

“You are.”

Pippa can’t read Hecate’s expression but it makes her swallow all the same.

“You should go find Marion,” she spits out, suddenly feeling out of her element as Hecate moves forward another pace.

“I don’t want Marion.”

Hecate’s very much in her space now and Pippa feels the wall collide with her back and jumps. It only moves her closer to Hecate and suddenly she cannot breathe.

“Pippa -“

They’re very close now and Pippa can feel every where there bodies do not touch but almost could.

“She wanted to take you home,” Pippa gasps, tears in her eyes.

“Yes,” Hecate says simply and smiles slowly, as if she knows something Pippa doesn’t. “She did.”

“Then why - why didn’t you -“

Black garbed arms slide up on other side of her so that Pippa’s pinned between Hecate and the wall. And Pippa realizes that it’s not a wall. It’s a door. And Hecate’s hand is on the knob. And she’s looking at Pippa - looking at her - looking -

Pippa gasps.

“Why would I let Marion Mayweather take me home,” Hecate intones, mouth against Pippa’s ear, causing her to tremble, “when the witch I want is currently leaning against my bedroom door?”

Pippa feels Hecate’s nose brush against her cheek as she pulls back, and suddenly they are nose to nose, lips nearly touching.

“But I thought -“ Her head is spinning and she wonders if she’s dreaming. Or how much longer her knees will hold her upright.

Hecate merely smiles, eyes glinting in a way that makes heat pool rapidly in Pippa’s stomach. “Oh, I know what you thought.” Her breath gusts across Pippa’s lips and Pippa parts them automatically, nearly moaning with how close Hecate. Still, she wants her closer and squirms a little, utterly breathless.

“Marion’s a college friend. I promised I’d peer review her next article if she helped me out tonight.” Hecate says dispassionately.

Pippa sags against the wall and stares at Hecate in utter bemusement. “What?”

The smile is back, arcing Hecate’s lips up as her hand finds Pippa’s hip, tugging her in until they’re flush. Pippa does moan then, eyes fluttering shut only to open again on Hecate’s slow and amused smile.

“I warrant it worked then?”

Numb with arousal, Pippa shudders at the feeling of Hecate against her. It’s all so sudden, so unexpected, and Hecate smirks, pressing Pippa further back into the wall. Her lips hover centimeters from Pippa’s and Pippa tilts her head back, aching.

“Worked?”

“You,” Hecate breathes. “Jealous.” She ghosted her lips across Pippa’s causing her to gasp and whimper.

“Yes,” Pippa whimpers, and finder her hands have come up to clutch helplessly against the back of Hecate’s dress, fisting the material as desire rolls through her in hot, heady pulsations. “I - I -“

“I didn’t think you’d ever make a move,” Hecate admits, sounding much more like the Hecate that Pippa’s familiar with. And Pippa blinks at her. “I knew you were much too protective of my boundaries. Or possibly not interested. And I had to know.”

“Darling,” Pippa gasps, hands tightening in the fabric of Hecate’s dress as her knees tremble and she’s forced to rock into Hecate and sag against the wall. “I wanted to hex her into oblivion.”

Hecate throws back her head and laughs, bright and sharp. It echoes down the hallway and swirls around them like sudden sunlight. When she’s collected herself she looks back at Pippa her expression positively wolffish.

“Oblivion?” She murmurs, back in Pippa’s space. “I think I’d rather see you there. Albeit through means other than hexation.”

Pippa’s knees do give way then and Hecate catches her, pinning her more thoroughly against the door as her mouth finds her own, hot and wanting, and preciously, achingly perfect. Shuddering, Pippa loops her arms around Hecate’s neck, clinging needlily as the lock clicks open behind them and they fall back into the room.

And Pippa discovers that oblivion, like jealousy, suits her just fine.


	2. Routine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @doesntgoaway requested ‘routine’

“Must you, really?”

“Yes. It’s only once a month. Now lay back.”

Hecate huffs as her blouse gets pulled the remaining way over her head and Pippa pushes her dispassionately down, pulling her arm to rest above her on the pillows. Hecate winces as Pippa’s fingers find her skin.

“Stop squirming.” Pippa gives her a look - a true testament to her authortivive clout as a headmistress, the pink glasses that slip to the tip of her nose only heightening the effect - and Hecate lays stills, cowed.

“Your hands are cold.”

Pippa hums in response, focusing as her fingers move in small circles across Hecate’s skin, and Hecate tries not to fidget as Pippa works her way around her breast.

“Next side.”

Cooperatively Hecate lifts her left arm, laying it up above her head as Pippa gently guides her right one down to lay along her side. Reaching across, Pippa’s hands begin to work again, her touch firm, her brow knitted.

Hecate watches her face and holds her breath.

“All clear.”

Pippa sits back and Hecate takes her hand, warming it between her own.

“I told you it would be.”

“It’s just with your family history,” Pippa worries, “and the recent scare - “

There’s a darkness in Pippa’s eyes that doesn’t lift and Hecate tugs her down to lay against her chest.

“I’m fine,” she whispers into Pippa’s hair, “I’m alright.”

“I just need to be sure.” Pippa’s arm slips around her waist, tugging her close, and Hecate lays a hand against her back to feel the way it rises and falls with her every breath.

“Thank you for loving me enough to worry.”

It comes out fraught with emotion - after all this time and the very idea of Pippa’s love is still so very overwhelming - and Pippa turns her head, pressing a small kiss just above Hecate’s left breast, above her heart.

They lay together, quietly, until Hecate suddenly shivers in the chill air. Pushing herself up, Pippa reaches for her shirt, only to have it dissolve into the air, banished by magic into nothing.

Pippa looks startled but Hecate smiles.

“I thought you’d have better manners. You get a witch like this - and in your bed no less - and then you think you’ll just _shelve_ her after? I’m your wife, Pippa Pentangle, not a broomstick. And I deserve a little better than a broomstick does after a routine examination, I must say.”

Pippa stares at her, cheeks pinking. But a small smile is growing around the corners of her mouth and Hecate bites her lip, knowing the sight will only add effect.

“Is that so?”

“It’s only decent -“ She glances down at herself. “- if you’re going to get me indecent.”

Pippa laughs a little, throwing a leg across Hecate’s hips until she sits astride her.

“And like my broomstick,” she says slowly - in that perfectly wicked little way she has that Hecate delights in - “I take it you wish to be taken out for a ride?”

Hecate blushes, but doesn’t fight the way her body responds to Pippa’s hands, once again bust on her chest, though her touch is decidedly different in nature than before.

“Pippa.” She places her hands on Pippa’s waist, but Pippa moves and gathers them instead, twining their finger together and raising them so that she can kiss the back of each one. And Hecate, already warm and terribly in love, melts all the more.

“I suppose it is better to be safe than sorry,” she whispers and Pippa hums again, leaning in so that she can nuzzle her nose against Hecate’s. Her own blouse is suddenly gone, and Hecate moans against Pippa’s mouth at the feel of their warm skin pressing together. She tangles her hands in Pippa’s hair and kisses her needily..

“Yes,” Pippa gasps when they part, breathing hard, “yes, it certainly is.”


	3. Witch Seeking Witch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon requested: 
> 
> Mildred, Maud and Enid feels sorry for Hecate and how lonely she is. So they post an anonymous add: 'witch seeking witch' trying to find Hecate a friend. Pippa reads the (very gay) add and replies...

Hecate enters the cafe, fingers twitching at her sides in nervous anxiety. She doesn’t think it acceptable to take external calls, but Maud Spellbody’s parents had insisted, and Maud is a serious enough student that Hecate cannot push away a request of such nature knowing it might be in the girl’s best interest. Even if said girl does cavort with such riff raff as Mildred Hubble and and Enid Nightshade. 

The cafe is bustling and she tucks the requested spellbook she’s been asked to bring closer to her side looking around for a place to sit.  Like the meeting, the book had been an odd stipulation, and she frowns momentarily down at the bright cover and curling letters. 

A witch knocks into her, dropping the slip of paper she’s holding and Hecate stumbles a little, clinging to the woman’s arm to steady herself. The paper flutters down to the floor between them and the woman spins to face her and gasps, her eyes meeting Hecate’s and widening in surprise. Hecate drops her arm. 

“Hecate?”

“Pippa?”

Pippa’s eyes flick over her and settle on the book in her arms. Her cheeks pink to match her dress. 

“Oh! It’s you.” She blushes further, eyes shining and Hecate stares at her in bemusement.

“So it would seem.” 

Pippa bites her lip. “You’re not unhappy about it, are you?” She sounds awfully tentative and Hecate frowns. 

“About running into you? Certainly I’m pleased to see you, but I have an important meeting and I really must -“ 

She tries to shuffle past but Pippa lays a hand on her arm. 

“Hiccup. It’s me.” Her eyes are very soft and Hecate sighs, exasperated. 

“Yes, I can see it’s you, Pippa. Now if you’ll excuse me -“

Pippa starts to cry. 

“You  _ are _ unhappy about it.”

Hecate stares at her, baffled. “Pippa, what on earth -“

“You don’t have to pretend, you know,” Pippa sniffles, wiping furiously at her eyes. The patrons around them are starting to look and Hecate tugs

Pippa closer and into to an out of the way nook by the cafe’s entrance. The Spellbodys should be arriving momentarily, and she tries to think of a way to calm Pippa before her they witness such a scene. In a snap there’s a black handkerchief in her palm and she offers it to Pippa who turns away instead, brushing tears from her cheeks and ducking down to collect the paper she’s dropped. 

“Pippa,” Hecate hisses, “I fear there’s been a misunderstanding.” She tugs Pippa up and hauls her back into the nook as a harried waiter bustles by. “I’m here to meet the Spellbodys. And I’m not sure what you’re doing here, but I haven’t meant in any way to upset you -“

Pippa frowns and blots at tears with her sleeve. “You needn’t be embarrassed. After all, it’s just as embarrassing for me - responding some strange witch’s ad in the paper - people will say it’s really not the proper thing to do - ”

Hecate frowns. “Paper? What paper?” She snatchs the slip from Pippa’s fingers, eyes flying across the page as she reads: 

_ “Witch seeking Witch: Must love chess. Must love potions. Would be happiest with someone who would help me learn to relax and break a rule rules a little. Please like children.” _

“I thought it sounded a bit like you, really,” Pippa mumbles, hands twisting anxiously together. “I think that’s why I liked it so much. But I knew it couldn’t be you. Because you haven’t any children. And because you’ve never thought of me that way.”

Hecate’s eyes fly up to fix on Pippa’s face. “What way?”

Pippa ignores her, near tears again. “And then I show up, and you’re holding the book we agreed upon. And I thought - I thought -“ she cuts off on a sob and something breaks in Hecate at the same time that the clouds clear in her mind and within her heart. 

“The Spellbodys aren’t coming,” she says slowly. She frowns down at the paper in her hand. “Mildred Hubble. Enid Nightshade. Maud Spellbody.”

In a flash she’s caught up Pippa’s arm and transferred them, landing hard in Mildred’s bedroom. The girls topple off the bed in surprise and stare up at them in alarm. 

They look guilty and Hecate glowers. She opens her mouth but Mildred beats her to it.

“What have you done to Miss Pentangle?” Mildred glares right back at her and Hecate feels nearly cowed both at the intensity of Mildred gaze and the red that lines Pippa’s eyes. 

“You’re supposed to be meeting my parent,” Maud crosses her arms and Mildred and Enid follow suit. 

“Enough,” Hecate hisses. She looms above them, furious. “Who wrote this letter?”

The paper dangles between her fingers, pale against the darkness of her nails and the girls at least have the decency to blush. 

“We just wanted you to find someone, Miss Hardbroom,” Enid mutters, scuffing the toe of her boot against the floor. 

Maud nods. “You seem so terribly lonely. And we just wanted to see you as happy as Miss Bat and Mr Rowen-Webb, honest.”

“We didn’t mean any harm,” Mildred whispers, sounding both pained and glum. “we wouldn’t have done it if we thought it would make things worse.”

She sends a furtive, pleading look towards Pippa and Hecate softens, but only slightly.

“You owe Miss Pentangle an apology, Mildred. And myself.”

“Sorry, Miss Pentangle, Miss Hardbroom, “ Mildred mumbles.

“Maud. Enid.”

The girls stumble through an apology and Hecate sniffs and turns on her heel preparing to transfer. 

“We wouldn’t have set you up with another witch if we’d known Miss Pentangle was in love with you,” Mildred blurts and Hecate wheels around, shock radiating through her every nerve. But Mildred’s looking desperately at Pippa and ignores her. “Miss Pentangle, we’re really sorry. Maybe we can find a way to break them up - we should have guessed - “

“That I’d be the one to respond to the ad?” Pippa sounds suddenly amused and Enid’s jaw drops. 

“ _ You _ responded to the ad?”

The three of them look at each other eyebrows high and mouths agape. 

“That’s it,” Maud declares and dusts her hands together. 

“I’ll say.”

Mildred grins toothily. “Our work here is done.”

Suddenly there are six small pairs of hands on Hecate’s back, pushing her and Pippa out the door. 

“Invite us to the wedding,” Enid calls and the door swings shut on the sound of them all high fiving. 

Hecate stands on the landing, utterly still, stunned.

“Must love children,” Pippa mutters, shooting her a sidelong look. 

Hecate rounds on her. “Do you really - are you really - could you actually be -“

“In love with you?” Pippa’s looking at her from between her lashes and Hecate feels herself flash cold then startlingly hot. 

“I - um - ah - “ she finds herself backed against the wall and suddenly Pippa’s very close indeed. 

“For years and years,” Pippa whispers, edging closer, eyes shining.

“Oh.” Hecate swallows. “I suppose - well - what I mean to say is that I - I - “

“Stop talking,” Pippa murmurs, and suddenly her mouth is on Hecate’s. And suddenly there are fireworks in Hecate’s belly, working upwards through her chest, fizzing through her brain until all she can feel is the way Pippa’s mouth presses against her own. 

Behind the door there’s an uproar of cheers and Hecate brakes away, head knocking against the cold wall behind her, in a tizzy, in a daze, more than certainly in love.

It feels as though her body and brain are beyond her own control and she doesn’t even think before tugging Pippa back in. 

The girls have the nerve to cheer again. 

She finds she doesn’t even care.


	4. Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: paris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to anon and metatxt for the paris prompt. forgot to upload it here from tumblr.

“The city looks so pretty from up here.” Hecate peers over the railing and gazes down at the sprawl of Paris below them. Beside her, Pippa leans into close her, her hand coming up to cover Hecate’s on the cool metal of the banister.

“It’s not the only thing that looks pretty.” Pippa’s looking up at her through her lashes. And Hecate knows that look far too well by now.

“Pipsqueak,” she shifts a bit, blushing, but Pippa presses closer still. “There are people -”

“People who are more interested in taking selfies with Sacre Coeur than anything we might get up to,” Pippa smirks, hand now slipping along Hecate’s waist. “They can’t see us anyway, we’re quite invisible to Ordinaries.”

Hecate shudders as Pippa’s mouth connects with her neck, as her tongue flicks out and traces the skin just below Hecate’s ear. “Pippa -”

It’s futile. It’s always has been where Pippa is concerned. Still, she guides her back a little, compromising to bring their mouths together in a kiss instead. Pippa parts her lips, licks into her mouth, spins her so she rests against the banister. The city of Paris falls away below and Hecate feels like she might topple down the endless steps of Montmartre and shatter into a thousand pieces at the way Pippa is pressing tightly against her. At the way her body and mouth move, tipping her closer towards reeling, starbursts of delight. 

“Pippa -” she gasps again but Pippa merely hums. 

Her brain is going numb, the argument that this is terribly, terribly indecent dying on her lips as Pippa claims them, as Pippa brushes her tongue across Hecate’s bottom lip and her knees go weak and wobbly. Pippa changes tempo, shifting the kiss to a slow, desperately infuriating pace, and Hecate can’t help the small noise she makes as a warm and needy heat begins to pulse through her, starting in her stomach and radiating in tingles to the tips of her fingers.

“Oh-ho-ho!”

The voice is right beside them - all too loud and all too familiar - and Hecate rips her mouth away, hand coming up to wipe away the evidence of Pippa’s affections as she spins around, stumbling back against the railing as her eyes alight on one Miss Dimity Drill.

And Julie Hubble.

Julie is blushing, looking apologetic, but Dimity is clearly delighted. Utterly pleased with herself in a way that has Hecate’s jaw clenching. To her left, Pippa’s also covering her mouth, though her eyes look far happier than any emotion Hecate can imagine feeling in the present circumstance.

“I heard Paris is for lovers,” Dimity grins, hand reaching for Julie. “Good to know it’s true. Well Met, Hecate. Miss Pentangle. What brings  _you_  here?”

Dimity’s eyes slide between them and Hecate wants to hex her. As if she doesn’t already know. As if she hasn’t just caught them snogging like a pair of randy sixth years and isn’t trying to force Hecate to admit to it.

Pippa saves the day, as Pippa so often does. “Oh, Hecate had never been to Paris. It’s one of my favorite cities. And this is one of my favorite views. We were just - “ she gestures to the sparkling city below, lights winking on as the twilight rises up around them - “taking in the sights.”

Dimity’s smile becomes wolfish. “The sights, eh?” She tugs a still blushing Julie closer. “Do you like the sights, Jules? Julie’s never been here either. Told her to save on the airfare and come with me for a weekend by broom.”

“I’m sorry about her,” Julie mumbles, but it doesn’t stop the fact that a moment later they’re kissing, far more enthusiastically than Hecate thinks is dignified for a public arena.

“You were just as bad.” Dimity doesn’t even bother to detach her mouth from Julie’s and the words come out garbled. But in the look she sends her, the message is clear.

“I - I - “ Hecate feels her back grow stiff, her fingers clenching in indignation. But Pippa’s hand is on her arm, sliding down to lace through her fingers to diffuse the tension. Suddenly her voice is in Hecate’s ear, warm and full of promise.

“Let’s go back to our hotel, Hiccup,” Pippa breathes. “We have a bathtub. With a view of the Eiffel Tour.”

And Hecate’s finds she too distracted to give any more thought to how obscene it is that Dimity is now whispering to Julie between kisses, and Julie is laughing, and they’re up against the again railing and kissing wildly. 

“Come on.” Pippa tugs her gently away, and Hecate gazes up at the azure sky that frames the creamy turrets of the basilica.

“Sacre Coeur,” she whispers, taking Pippa’s hand. “That’s what you are to me.” She turns them once they’ve passed into a quiet lane that leads down to the neighborhood below, drawing Pippa to her as she kisses her forehead. “My sacred heart.”

Pippa’s eyes glow in the lamp light and they melt into each other’s arms even as they melt into the transfer.

And only once does Hecate Hardbroom think of Dimity Drill for the rest of the evening. 

Because yes, she supposes she’s right about one thing. 

Paris  _is_  for lovers.


End file.
